Even to Charles Barkley—the round mound of sound, pounds and rebounds—not everything is fair game

From the airwaves of Sporting News Radio

'The Lakers won't be contenders next year.'

J.B.: Can the current Lakers team win if Phil Jackson comes back to coach them?

BARKLEY: If you look at their salary cap situation, they're going to pretty much have the same team next year, and that team is just not good enough. They need a point guard, and they need some big guys. Their best players are guards and forwards, and you can't rebound with a bunch of small guys.

'Young players are talented, but they don't know how to play.'

J.B.: The NBA's proposed age limit--a pro or a con?

BARKLEY: I am for an age limit. I think it will be better for the game. Basketball is not as good as it has been for the last 20 years. No. 1, everyone looks at the successes, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, but the truth of the matter is these young guys are just sitting on the bench collecting money. The draft is designed for bad teams to get immediate help, and when you draft a guy out of high school, with the exception of LeBron, he is not going to be able to help your team immediately. So it's really not fair to the fans.

'It's not fair the way the press gets a free pass.'

On "accusations" made in the media:

BARKLEY: They get to throw steroid accusations out there against certain guys. The press doesn't realize how much power they have. And when you throw accusations out there, it doesn't matter if it's proven not to be. Kobe Bryant is the perfect example. Nobody knows what happened in Colorado, but he's going to have to live with that stigma for the rest of his life.

On his friend Tiger Woods:

BARKLEY: I think he's back. I was on television a few months ago, and I said he was going to win two majors and six or seven tournaments. I really think he might win more than two. I think now the monkey is off his back, which was an unfair monkey. One thing that really irked me: the press. They have no responsibility for what they say. Tiger is the only guy they say shouldn't have gotten married. When he was dating this girl, they said it was her fault. Really unfair criticism. So, I was really happy he won so people could stop blaming everything on his wife.

'All hell broke loose when the Cavs fired Paul Silas.'

J.B. I believe Paul Silas did enough to at least finish the season. Disagree?

BARKLEY: I agree with you 100 percent. You have to be really disappointed in the owner, Dan Gilbert. He is a fan. He's got a lot of money and has the right to do what he wants to, but a guy who's a fan doesn't just come in and make those wholesale type of changes. Cleveland was having a good season, probably overachieving. LeBron James and the rest of their young players are just too young to handle those distractions.

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COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning